Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

It's lovely to see you here today.

My name's Dr.

Clayton, and I'm going to guide you through your learning journey today, so grab your pen, laptop, whatever you're using for this lesson, and let's get started.

Welcome to today's lesson.

The lesson is called "The Overarching Structure of a Monologue," and by the end of the lesson, you'll be able to effectively plan a monologue with a clear, overarching structure.

There are two components to the lesson here that I just wanna briefly unpack.

Now, let's just take a moment to think about the importance of planning.

Planning is such an essential component of writing, because it allows you to really focus your thoughts and make sure that the inspirational ideas you have properly translate to the reader.

The second thing I want to take a moment to briefly talk about is the structure of a piece of writing.

The structure's a framework that holds everything together, and it's so important to think about that before you start writing, because the decisions you make around the structure will influence the journey through your writing that the reader will take.

So, we have four words today we're gonna focus on as our keywords.

They'll be identified in bold throughout the learning material.

I'll try to point them out to you as well so you can see them used in context.

So, our first keyword is symbolism.

Now, symbolism is when writers use objects or characters to represent deeper ideas and themes.

This is such a core literary concept to understand, because it'll really help you to fully unlock a text and really understand what the writer is trying to convey to the reader.

Our second keyword is tone.

Now, tone can have a couple of different implications, but in literature, when we say tone, we mean the general mood or feeling of a text.

Our third keyword is structure.

When we talk about the structure of a text, we mean how is the text organized and presented to the reader or audience.

So for example, it's really important to think about the first word or sentence in a text, as that is what the writer's chosen as the introduction to the text.

Our final keyword is emotive.

Emotive means to cause strong feelings, so if we describe a word or a text as emotive, then we mean it causes strong feelings in the reader, and those feelings can be positive or negative.

So, I'll just give you a few moments to write those keywords down, so pause the video and write down the definitions now.

Amazing, everyone.

Let's get started with the lesson.

So, we have three learning cycles in our lesson today.

For our first learning cycle, we're going to focus on how to begin a monologue.

As I said earlier, the beginning of any text is so important, because it's the reader's introduction to the text and it will impact the way they respond to it.

For our second learning cycle, we're going to talk about one option for how you might construct the middle section of your monologue, and for our final learning cycle, we're going to talk through how you might end your monologue.

All the way through the lesson, we're gonna be looking at examples and thinking about how they're effective, and then making notes on how we might use those different techniques such as repetition, juxtaposition, and color symbolism in order to enhance your writing.

So, in today's lesson, we're gonna talk through the structure of a monologue and use that as a basis to plan the beginning, middle, and end of your own monologues.

Now, as I said earlier, the beginning of your monologue is the reader's introduction to your writing, so it's incredibly important that the beginning of your monologue is powerful and attention-grabbing.

You want it to set the tone and mood for the entire monologue.

So, tone is one of our keywords.

It means the general feeling of the monologue.

So the beginning of your monologue sets up the mood and feeling for the reader, and therefore, you need to think about how it relates to the purpose of the monologue.

What is your character trying to express to the audience? What emotion do you think your character would want to get across? So, let's start by thinking about a model and how we as the reader respond to it.

Whenever you're doing any piece of writing, the more you read, the more you'll develop your own writing, because you'll be picking up so many ideas and inspirations along the way.

So, I'd like you to consider the opening of this monologue that a student has created in the voice of Caliban.

It says, "How can you? How can you? You treat me like an animal, an unruly beast roaming the island, that's 'yours'.

This island's mine.

I appreciate the lush greenery, the soft sound, the exotic birds.

You say, I only respond to a whip.

You say, I only respond to cruelty.

What happened to the kindness you once held? My anger is an uncontrollable burst dam.

I can feel it leaking." So, what I'd like you to do is take a moment to think about what overall tone does that set? So, what overall feeling or emotion do you get from that opening? Pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, everyone.

Some great discussions there.

So, like Aisha, you might have thought "It sets a very angry tone.

The idea of being treated like an animal, suggests frustration and resentment." Like Alex, you might have thought that you agree with Aisha that it sets an angry tone since Caliban is saying his master believes he only response to a whip, and it creates a real sense of injustice and a very bitter tone to the opening.

Here, Aisha and Alex have picked up on some key phrases within the monologue, in "you treat me like an animal" and you say, "I only respond to a whip," and they've thought about their emotional response to those phrases, and that's exactly what you want to do when approaching a text.

Now, for a quick check for understanding.

What I'd like you to do is select which one of the following quotes creates an angry tone to the opening of the monologue.

So, which one creates an angry emotion or an angry feeling? Is it A, "you treat me like an animal," B, "I appreciate the lush greenery," or C, "I can feel it leaking."? So, pause the video and make your selection now.

The correct answer is A, "you treat me like an animal," so very well done if you've got that right.

Now, let's zoom in on the opening line and see how we can maybe use some of the ideas and techniques within the model and think about how we can apply to our own monologues.

So, the opening is, "How can you? How can you?" Now, what I'd like you to do is think about what technique is being used here and what effect does it have on the audience? So, pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing.

Some great ideas there.

You might have said, "The opening line uses repetition.

It conveys to the audience the sense of injustice that Caliban feels, because it's showing his disbelief that another human being could treat him this way." Okay, let's just do a quick check for understanding, just to make sure we've got all the key information about the beginning of a monologue.

So, I'd like you to tell me if the following statement is true or false.

So, is it true or false that the opening of a monologue should be powerful? Pause the video and make your selection now.

Correct answer is true.

It should be powerful.

Now, I'd like you to justify that answer.

So, should it be powerful because, A, it should set the overall mood of the monologue, or B, it should present a problem and solve it? So, pause the video and make your selection now.

The correct answer is A.

It's powerful and it should set the overall mood of the monologue, so very well done if you got that right.

Okay, everyone, we've arrived at the first task of the lesson.

Now, for your monologue, you've been transported back in time and you find yourself on the island with the characters from "The Tempest." Now, we might imagine you'd feel quite outta place, confused and potentially curious, given the differences between Shakespearean society and modern society, so what I'd like to do is create an opening line that uses repetition in order to express the emotion you think you might feel, and then tell me how that repetition shows the emotion.

Remember, you want to create a beginning that's powerful and immediately sets the tone for the audience, so pause the video and create your opening now.

Welcome back, everyone.

It was great to see people trying out some different combinations of repeated words to see what works best.

You want to constantly be asking yourself, how can you enhance your writing even as you're writing it.

So, you might have said, "My opening line would be, 'I couldn't believe it! I just couldn't believe it!' The repetition of the line as well as the repeated exclamation mark is emotive as it shows the shock that I would be feeling of being transported back in time and emphasizes my disbelief to the audience." Fantastic work so far, everyone.

We're now into the second learning cycle where we're going to look at the middle of a monologue and follow a similar a process to the first learning cycle, we're going to consider a model, consider the techniques in the model, and then you are going to think about how you can apply that knowledge to your own monologues.

So, one way to structure your monologue is to use it as a way to explore conflict and resolution.

So in the middle of your monologue, you'd want to explain to the audience a problem that you are facing and then show how you would feel about that problem through your use of language.

Now, as we did in learning cycle one, we're going to think about a model and how the writers thought about how to present their character's problem to the audience and how it creates that emotional connection.

So, let's consider this example that a student wrote in the voice of Ariel from "The Tempest." "There once was a time when I could freely skip the waves, hop between clouds and flit between trees.

No master.

No commander.

No one to tell me where to go, what to do, who to be.

I was free.

Liberated! Then colors were so bright, flavors so crisp.

I didn't realize it then, but looking back at it now, I realize the world was filled, sparkling, beautiful.

A rainbow spectrum, which was untainted by humans.

Until Sycorax emerged from the sea, bringing the darkness with her.

This monster, this witch, this daughter of the devil, stole my freedom, shackled my heart, and chained my soul." So, what I'd like to think about here is what is the problem the Ariel is facing in that example of a monologue and how does the choice of language have an effect on the reader? So, pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Some amazing thoughts there.

Now, like Sam, you might have said, "The problem that Ariel is facing is that they have been imprisoned by Sycorax and they're no longer free and in control of their own lives." Like Alex, you might have thought, "The juxtaposition of the rainbow and darkness imagery emphasizes to the reader the negative emotions that Ariel is now experiencing." Now, we're gonna spend just a little bit of time thinking about how to utilize the techniques of juxtaposition and color symbolism within your own writing.

Now, when Ariel says, "a rainbow spectrum" and then "bringing the darkness with her," the monologue is using both juxtaposition and color symbolism to create an effect on the audience.

So, juxtaposition is when you place two concepts or objects next to each other in order to highlight their differences.

In this example, a rainbow and darkness are very different and represent how Ariel's world used to be happy and full of color and it's now become dark and cold.

Now, to create this juxtaposition, the model is using color symbolism by using a rainbow to show happiness and darkness to show sadness.

Now, symbolism is one of our keywords and it means where something is representing a wider theme or concept.

So, what I'd like you to do is think about what the following colors represent to you.

We have red, blue, gray, and green.

Now, these could be positive or negative connotations.

Remember that everyone will have different interpretations, because symbolism very much depends on what you've experienced in your own life and what's resonated with you.

So, pause the video and take a few minutes to think about it.

Amazing, some fantastic discussions around those colors there.

Now, you might have said that red could mean excitement, passion, rage, or aggression.

Now, red is such a vivid color and it represents some big emotions.

We think of red representing excitement and passion.

We can all see it representing rage and aggression.

Now, some of you might have thought of the phrase "seeing red" as representing someone who's being led by their anger.

Now, for blue, you might have thought of sadness, coldness, freedom, or calmness.

We see blue as representing sadness.

Some of you might have thought of the phrase "feeling a bit blue" as someone who's feeling a bit down and a bit lonely, but we could also see blue as representing the sky or the sea, and this could represent different things to different people, because on the one hand, it might represent the coldness, because both the sky and the sea are so vast and far removed from other people.

However, for some, that vastness could be seen as a sense of freedom or even calmness, 'cause it's so far away from the chaos and busyness of everyday life.

Now, for gray, you might have thought of neutrality, lifelessness, wisdom, and dullness.

We might see gray as a very neutral color.

It's not the extremes of black or white, it's a mixture of the two.

We could also see gray as lifeless because you might think of metallic structure or something artificial, which might be seen as the opposite of organic life.

You might think of gray as representing age, and with that comes a sense of wisdom.

However, compared to the vibrant colors of red, orange, purple, gray might seem a little dull and safe in comparison.

Now, for green, you might have thought of envy, poison, luck, or growth.

Firstly, you might think of green as being jealous or envious.

We often talk of the green-eyed monster when it comes to envy, and there's even a phrase "green with envy." You might also think of something potentially hazardous like poison.

Some of you might recollect a moment in a film or TV show where the poison or hazardous material is glowing green to make sure that we as the audience are aware it's dangerous.

Or you might think of a shamrock or a four-leaf clover and think of green as representing luck, or some of you might associate green with nature and therefore consider it symbolizing health and growth.

As I said earlier, there's no right or wrong answer when it comes to symbolism, because we're all gonna have very different emotional reactions to symbols, depending on our experiences and our lives.

Okay, now for a quick check for understanding on what we've just covered.

So, what I'd like you to do is complete the following two sentences.

So, sentence number one.

Placing two concepts or objects next to or near to each other in order to highlight their differences is called.

And sentence number two.

Using colors to represent certain emotions is called color.

So, pause the video and complete the sentences now.

Amazing, everyone.

Now, you might have said that placing two concepts or objects to or near to each other in order to highlight their differences is called juxtaposition, and using colors to represent certain emotions is called color symbolism, so very well done if you've got those right.

You're doing really well, everyone.

Onto our second task of the lesson.

So, one way of structuring your monologue is to lay out a problem for your audience, and that's what we're gonna do here.

Remember that you've been transported back in time from our modern era to Shakespeare's time.

So, what I'd like you to do is write about what your problem might be and how you might use juxtaposition and color symbolism in order to represent how you feel about the problem.

Remember that juxtaposition is where you place two concepts or objects near to each other in order to highlight their differences, and color symbolism's where you've different colors in order to represent certain emotions.

So, pause the video and create your notes now.

Amazing, everyone.

It was great to see people comparing ideas about color symbolism, because as we said earlier, you'll all respond to different colors differently, because we're all individuals.

Now, for your notes, you might have said that, "I think my problem would be that I would feel as if I didn't belong with the characters from 'The Tempest,' since we wouldn't be able to understand each other easily, and there would be aesthetic differences in terms of clothing, but also social differences in terms of our attitudes towards certain things, and that I might use the idea of pink, rosy cheeks fading to a dull porcelain color to represent that feeling of excitement, sinking away to dread instead." You're doing fantastically well, everyone.

Onto our final learning cycle.

We're going to think about how to end our monologue.

Now, one way to think about how to end a monologue is to provide a resolution to the conflict and the problem that you highlighted in the middle of your monologue, and you also might want to think about how you can link your introduction to the end of your monologue to demonstrate that resolution to your audience.

So, what we're gonna do now is practice resolving a problem by thinking about a student's example for how they represented a problem that their character faced.

In this instance, it was Caliban.

Now, the problem that Caliban faced was that Prospero had taken over the island and enslaved Caliban.

In the voice of Caliban, the student wrote, "My anger is an uncontrollable burst dam.

I can feel it leaking," and that demonstrates that Caliban is about to explode with rage.

What I'd like you to think about is how could you end Caliban's monologue to show his relief at Prospero leaving the island and link that back to the image of a dam leaking.

So, pause the video and take a few moments to think about it.

Amazing, it was great to see people think about how they can mirror the same image of water, but turn it into a more peaceful image, and you might have said, "As Prospero's ship sailed away, I could feel myself begin to feel peace.

The waters of my soul became an easy ebb and flow of emotions rocking back and forth in perfect harmony." Okay, now for a quick check for understanding before we move on to you writing your own monologue ending for the final task of the lesson.

So, what I'd like you to do is tell me whether the following statement is true or false.

So, is it true or false that the one way to end a monologue is to provide a resolution to the problem? Pause the video and make your selection now.

The correct answer is true.

Now, I'd like you to justify that answer.

So, is A, that you want to show the audience how your character's conflict has been resolved, or B, you want to ask the audience how to solve your character's conflict? Pause the video and make your selection now.

Correct answer is A, you want to show the audience how your character's conflict's been resolved, so very well done if you got that right.

Fantastic work so far, everyone.

We're onto to our final task of the lesson.

So, what I'd like you to do is write down how you might provide a solution to the problem you faced on the island with the characters from "The Tempest" and how you might link it back to your introduction.

So, you might consider using repetition, as we did with our introduction, and thinking about what emotions you would feel at that particular moment of resolution, so pause the video and write your notes now.

Amazing, everyone.

It was great to see people looking back over the notes from the beginning and the middle sections of the monologue, to think about how they can mirror some of the language to form that cohesive ending, and you might have said, "The solution to the problem might be that I return to my correct time and I'm relieved to be back amongst people that I don't feel so outta place with.

I could use repetition to show the relief I'd be feeling, such as, 'I could scarcely believe it.

I desperately wanted to believe it,' to link back to the repetition I used in the beginning." You all did amazingly well, everyone.

Here's a summary of what we covered today.

Your introduction should be powerful and attention-grabbing.

One way to structure your monologue is to set up a problem for your character and then provide the resolution.

You might also think about linking the end of your monologue back to the beginning to show that resolution.

And finally, we might use literary devices in order to create an emotive effect on the audience.

I really hope you enjoyed the lesson, everyone.

You all did fantastically well.

Goodbye.